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| Afghanistan |
| Paks say reinforcements to Bad Guys aren't coming from their side |
| 2002-03-09 |
At the same time, Pakistani troops encountered more fighters trying to slip into Pakistan this week. Pakistani officials asserted that the border was mostly secure and that they did not believe that the forces now battling American troops in eastern Afghanistan had re-entered Afghanistan from Pakistan. They said they believed that those forces were among the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters who had adopted a low profile after the fall of Kabul but never left Afghanistan, and had kept their military supplies there. "They didn't need to be supplied from the Pakistani side of the border, which is effectively sealed." Officials said they estimated that as many as 1,800 Al Qaeda members and more than 3,500 Taliban fighters might have slipped into Pakistan since November. Only about 600 have been detained by Pakistani authorities, one senior Pakistani intelligence officer said. Of those detained, about 280 have been handed over to the United States, but none are major leaders. Pakistani officials said the flow of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters into the country was at its peak in December and early January and had since declined considerably. Since the border is notoriously porous, I'd tend to discount any claims of it being sealed tight. "We're doing all we can" carries a lot more ring of truth than "There's nothing getting through." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |